Business leaders erroneously see data analytics as the ‘pot of gold at the end of the rainbow’ and forget it is merely the tool to help benefit from smarter, better and more informed decisions.
This is according to Jordan Morrow, chief data & analytics officer at Brainstorm Inc., who presented the opening keynote address at the 2023 ITWeb Business Intelligence Summit which started in Johannesburg today.
Morrow, who is known as the ‘godfather of data literacy’, said organisations are struggling to become data-driven and most often get stuck on descriptive analytics: they progress on their data analytics journey to the point where they have useful data, but don’t do anything with it.
He said COVID-19 fast-tracked data analytics and illuminated the gaps in businesses trying to become data-driven and establish a data-driven business culture.
This is a culture in which data is democratised, and characterised by a data community that encourages learning, information sharing, ideas sharing and awareness to increase data literacy levels.
Four levels of analytics
There is a process to achieve this and Morrow said it must include three key components: critical thinking, an actual decision and execution of the decision.
But the process is thwarted by a lack of understanding of what the primary purpose of data is: to drive better decision-making and empower the workforce to be more productive and more efficient. Many are not aware that there are four levels of analytics: descriptive, diagnostic, predictive and prescriptive, Morrow said.
“We must remember that analytics gives life to data,” said Morrow.
You can have the greatest data analytics technology, the greatest infrastructure, but if no one uses it, good luck!
Jordan Morrow
To become data-driven, or a business that uses data to make decisions, business leaders must set the outcome (what am I trying to achieve), build the strategy (how do we get there?), arm yourself (do I have the right tools?), train yourself (do I have the right skills?) and establish the culture (do I have the right environment?)
Morrow added: “The number one roadblock to effective data strategies is probably culture, it’s people…you can have the greatest data analytics technology, the greatest infrastructure, but if no one uses it, good luck!”
Companies have to have the ability to evolve, overcome these hurdles by focusing on the three Cs of data literacy: curiosity, creativity and critical thinking, he said, reminding delegates of just one statistic – the creation of 175 zettabytes of data by 2025!
ITWeb's BI Summit 2023 is on at the Maslow Hotel in Sandton, from 7 to 9 March.
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